Not everyone is endowed with the financial assets to be able to afford to purchase their own little segment of paradise to homestead and use as an emergency retreat when the time arrives. Suppose an acquaintance goes out and purchases a 10 acres parcel of land in Kentucky or in southern West Virginia and desired to construct an off-grid homestead.

Is sharing land possible?

Joseph Parish

Not everyone is endowed with the financial assets to be able to afford to purchase their own little segment of paradise to homestead and use as an emergency retreat when the time arrives. Suppose an acquaintance goes out and purchases a 10 acres parcel of land in Kentucky or in southern West Virginia and desired to construct an off-grid homestead. Now as we are well aware events usually take place which forestall the completion of our dreams and best laid plans. This would certainly put our acquaintance behind any homestead schedule which he might have developed.

Some unfortunate event suddenly interfered with our mystery mans completion of his retreat before he was able to completely build it. Mr. Mysterious approached you with the possibility that it would be a great idea to share his land with others such as you. He further explains that he feel he should be able to locate several like-minded individuals or families to share his 10 acres and to build his dreamed of off-grid homestead. He states that it is his opinion that 10 acres would be more than enough to supply two or three families with resources if they worked jointly as an extended family. All would merely need to work for the same ultimate goals.

As the two of you discuss his plans you are told that the land is paid for and is free and clear of all mortgages so there would be no rent or land payments involved. You listen intently as he states that his idea is to place the land in a deed of trust to be an established homestead therefore it could not be sold or in any way traded.

You look closely at his description of the property and find that it has many desirable traits. The land is located within the boundaries of a national forest with woods on two sides of it. You notice from the drawing that the nearest house is approximately 3 miles away. He makes it very clear that there are no utilities going to the land and it would be developed strictly as an off-grid homestead. He also makes it clear that any project undertaken should be done with the understanding that it should pay for itself. His philosophy is that everything that is on the homestead should have a purpose.

Sounds pretty appealing doesn’t it, well it might not be so desirable after-all. If you were to complete some research into intentional communities or communes you will quickly discover that just anybody will not be found adequate for such a venture. It will be necessary to weed out those drug and alcohol abusers as well as the freeloaders. With that accomplished you would need to establish certain skill sets which would be necessary and list what tools are at your disposal. Consider what might be lacking for a successful community to be established.

Keep in mind that for a community such as this to get off the ground it will take a considerable amount of immediate cash at the onset as well as hours upon hours of hard work.

Here are some skills which I recommend to be considered. You will need to start out with a manager of some sort to oversee the activities which are taken to build up the community. This doesn’t necessarily need to be the leader of the group but rather an organizer. Gardeners will be in high demand especially those with food preservation under their belts. Craftsmen such as masons, carpenters and mechanics will be required not only initially but to maintain the completed community once it is functioning. For dealing with medical issues you will want a herbalist along with a Physician’s Assistant or an experienced EMT. I’m certain there will be additional attributes which may come to mind and hopefully many of your people will possess more than one skill set.

Now we end with the thought that all these people and their families must reside on 10 acres of land. Do you think that this would be sufficient to begin a planned community?

Absolutely fabulous idea, variations of this are already happening everywhere. In India, we have private builders building holiday homes at hilly picnic/tourist spots for which several people join as members and they can schedule their time to be in these places for a short vacation.

Though a single person may start and propagate the idea, most of the time it is the private (and well experienced business) parties which take this up. There are several old age homes in India where the membership is by invitation only – the reason being old people cannot change their (food+religious) habits and need to have a community that takes care of their interests.